Taking A Look At The Pokémon X & Y Starters Final Evolution (spoilers)

We here at Hardcore Gamer worry about our readers. We want to make sure you as a gamer can make as much of an informed decision as possible, and when it comes to Pokémon, one of the big decisions if not the biggest is who your starter will be. This is especially true if you do not have friends to trade other starters with. With the official release date for Pokémon X & Y knocking loudly on the door, we thought we would give our readers a look at the leaked final evolutions and estimated stats to help give you a better idea of what you are getting yourself into further down the road with whatever starter you might choose. The images aren’t exactly officially confirmed, but with the amount of leaks surrounding the starters they seem rather legitimate at this point. But as always read on with caution, and with a grain of salt even if that grain is small.

Here they are in no particular order:

Delphox

Here we have Delphox, who gains the psychic type in its final evolution. The design is very elegant and fitting of a psychic type being very reminiscent of Gardervoir. The fire/psychic typing is a nice change of pace from the fire/fight typing Game Freak has been insistent on throwing at Pokémon players for a few generations now. It also mimics Victini’s typing (and Darmanitan if you count zen mode), so it could be somewhat of a consolation prize for those that have missed out on getting the rare legendary. The estimated stats aren’t too bad either. With a 115 estimated special attack and 110 estimated speed, Delphox is fairly speedy with a nice amount of sting behind what is sure to be a special attack oriented move pool. Not to mention its stab (the term used to refer to moves powered up because they are the same type as the user) attacks being fire and psychic would serve it well in the battle sphere. Seeing Delphox would probably give pause to Scizor, Metagross and Conkeldur users. But 115 still isn’t all that high, and with many ground and dark threats lurking around (including its fellow starter Greninja), we’ll see how much use Delphox sees competitively.

Greninja

Speaking of Greninja, here it is in all its glory. This is probably my favorite design of the group, which fits its name very well. Greninja receives the extra dark typing with its evolution and with an estimated base speed of 120 its stats its a very fast Pokémon. Having such a high base speed puts it up among the very speedy Dugtrio and Alakazam and nipping at the heels of Tornadus. Unfortunately with its strongest estimated attack stat at 100 in special attack it doesn’t look like it will be a major powerhouse to worry about. Having 100 in special attack isn’t that bad, it just isn’t great. Greninja’s dark typing doesn’t seem to do any favors competitive wise either, with threats like Conkuldurr and Breloom floating around using mach punch to negate Greninja’s speed. Greninja is also likely to have some trouble with bulky opponents, but outside of that Greninja will probably find a good niche in the battle sphere even if only just based off its speed. Still Greninja is great and is likely to be popular just off its design alone.

Chesnaught

Chesnaught is an interesting one, as it receives the fight type with its evolution which it shares with the legendary Virizion and the OU staple Breloom. Chenaught’s stats are also somewhat reminiscent of its legendary counterpart with an estimated base 120 defense rather than the base 129 special defense that Virizion has. Where the comparison dwindles, however, is Chenaught’s speed at an estimated base 70. This means Chesnaught will be relying on its defensive bulk quite a bit, which is problem because of the likelihood of running into an ice type move. And more often than not that ice move will be special attack oriented which will cause Chesnaught problems due to its special defense being the weaker of its two defenses at an estimated base 70. Chesnaught isn’t very likely to enjoy the many ice beams that are likely going to be coming its way. That isn’t to say that Chesnaught will be useless, it’s probably just not likely destined for high tier battling. Chesnaught’s design is interesting and is certainly reminiscent of a bulky wall, and while it isn’t likely to win any beauty pageants anytime soon, it’s good enough to get the job done. Regardless of its shortcomings (or not depending on how much you like the design), Chesnaught will likely be selected and enjoyed by many a Pokémon trainer.

So there you have it: the Kalos region starters in their final form and with some stat information. Hopefully we helped make this decision easier, but we also could have made it more difficult. But with the release date pretty much upon us we’re sure many Pokémaniacs are down to counting the hours until that long awaited midnight release.